Tubeless tire blew sounded like shotgun shot

This past Saturday I was out riding a trail and was coming down a hill going about 20 mph when my rear Panaracer tire blew. It was really loud, a lot louder than you would expect a blown tire to sound. People around me asked me what that was and one dude thought someone just fired a gun, lol. I calmed him down pointing at my tire, it blew a 3 inch hole on the side right above the rim.

Having said that, I'm debating to switch to tubes. Does anyone have any input? Which tubes and tires. I'm looking at something rather aggressive, I love to ride in rain/mud and get to the point where my wife can't recognize me, to me thats a good day of riding. Thanks in advance.

I had a road tire do that once. It sounded like a gunshot and actually made me jump because it startled me so much. I guess it could happen on a tire/tube combo or tubeless setup just as easily. Just depends on the circumstances.

Once watched someone over-inflate a tube setup until the tube popped (accidentally of course). That sounded like a gunshot too. Has to do with the rapid release of pressurized air, not the system you are running.

you have to ask yourself what benefits am I getting outta running tubeless?

freak accidents happen perhaps you hit a sharp rock or exposed root or ran over a broken bottle that was buried or something I wouldn't consider stop using a tubeless system just because I had a blowout now if this was happening all the time then I would think about two things am I doing something wrong in the set up or these tires compatible with the stans latex (continentals are not) or perhaps I need to pick better lines.

I've been tubeless since 99 running the original stans ghetto set up with packing tape and mold builder to total UST set up I can't ever imagine going back to using tubes in tires other than to do a quick trailside fix. I do know of folks having the tire blow off the rim with the non-UST Hutchinson python "light" tires due to the flimsy bead however Hutchinson has somewhat fixed this with the advent of the tubeless ready python it has the UST bead but the casing of the non-UST tire.

is there a reason that you should be out riding in the rain an mud sounds pretty destructive of the trails and of your bike just saying...

Agree with the above posts, if the sidewall fails either a tubed or tubeless tire will blow out, end of story. All the blowouts I have had have been with tubed tires, none with tubeless. Probably because back in the day we used to run 50psi in our 1.9 tires to prevent pinch flats, whereas now I run 28-30psi in my tubeless set up.
In my experience the Maxxis LUST tires have one of the toughest casings around in a single ply tire. I had good luck running the high roller in muddy conditions in Colorado, the Ignitor might be a good choice as well, especially if you run the 2.35 size.

Usually when a converted tire blows, it's the bead that blows off the rim and that is a sign of too much air. I agree that Panaracer tires are a not the greatest (they had their day, it's just over now). Stick with Kenda or Maxxis when ever possible. In converted tires there is no need to run over 35 psi 30 is about right for most riders. Many people ride much lower than that. In this case it sounds like that tire had a defect or it was inflated above the manufacturer's recommendations.

Thanks for all the replies. I have to agree with most of you, it must have been a freak accident or the damage was already there and I just didn't realize it and kept riding.
I haven't made up my mind on to which tires I'll switch to but it aint going to be panaracer.

Riding in rain might mess up a trail a bit, but people do it all the time because I'm not the only one riding in bad weather. If they can why can't I?

sounds like a little too much PSI. ive had a tube blow and sound like a shotgun. ive also been inflating a tubeless setup and went to high on the PSI and blew it off the rim. it sounded like a shotgun and also taco'd the rim. i was also covered in sealant. it was crazy.

I got the shotgun sound out of a tubed tire once:
I was driving on the highway, with my bike on a rack.
The tire was apparently hanging too close to the exhaust pipe - it heated it up and made the air inside the tire expand until it exploded. Had to get a new tire before we could ride that day.

I was riding to a LBS when my rear tire when it sounded louder than a shotgun as I had headphones on and it was still extremely loud. The tube has a 7 in tear in it and is missing chunks of rubber i think some ended up in the cassette.

no excuses about "well other people do it to" it's called you know it's wrong so don't do it - there are SOME and these are very few, trails that can "handle it" but for the most part riding in the rain destroys the trails and i bet 100:1 that OP does not do trail maintenance and had nothing to do with the building of the trails he's so eagerly endangering.

It pains me to tell it, but I was planning a ride and the night before (Sat night) I pumped my tires in preparation, as I pumped a huge bulge formed in the middle of the tread, it was the second time it happened to me with Larsen TT LUST's.
So it's now Sunday morning and I rang around trying to find some new tires, I wanted to try something other than the Larsen's and found a shop near buy with some Schwalbe Nobby Nic UST's,
So off I go, at the shop the guys let me fit the tires there so I could use the compressor to seat them, I got nearly all the way on but as you all know it can be hard work pulling the last bit of the tire onto the rim, one of the mechanics offered his help and said I needn't do it just with my hands and with me showing some concern he took the tire levers out and put teflon lube on the rim to slide it on!
It was a bit awkward and even though I like doing it my way I thought that as he was helping me out it wasn't really polite to tell the shop mechanic that I knew better.
Then the other mechanic came in and grabbed the wheels and put them on the compressor with no gauge (I should add sealant was in at this point) and proceeded to inflate the wheel.
My common practice is to use the compressor till the tire "pops" and is seated then I release pressure and inflate with a floor pump and inspect the bead for the right position.

The mechanic however inflated them to rock hard! I suggested very gently that it may not be necessary but he assured me they needed to seat properly and that it's best to leave them like this till just before I ride, then set the correct psi. Not wanting to offend I paid my money and walked to the car planning to let the pressure out as I packed them in.

This is where it gets messy! as I opened my back door and went to rest one wheel down it literally exploded in my hand!, hurt like hell and blue sealant went all over me, the car, the carpet and everywhere else! I was shell shocked. My hand was numb and I just couldn't even think about the mess the liquid latex had made to my car!

So I very shakely walked back in the shop with a stunned look and my heart going a million miles an hour.

The mechanic took one look at the wheel and went in the workshop to re-seat it, it went on super quickly this time, with blue goo every where.
He passed me the wheel and right then and there in my hand BOOM!! it blew again!! My finger was numb, goo was everywhere and my nightmare was just getting worse.

The mechanic just left me standing there in shock and went to serve other customers, I asked what I could do and he said he couldn't deal with it now and left me.
So there I am, 2 hours from my planned ride, my car a mess, me a mess and with a tire and rim covered in goo and left to just wait.
I asked if we could try another tire and was told that he couldn't give me another without paying for it! and even then they didn't have another of the same tire.
I couldn't believe it, I just stood there, then he said, we've done all we can and he just can't deal with it now and would have to in the week and could I leave as I had already taken up their time enough and they had other customers!
I had no other option but to walk out, the guy was a complete pr*#k.

About an hour later he called me and said he would try to replace the tire under warranty some time in the week but if I was to be called by the rep I was to say that I had fitted it myself in the car park and that they only inflated it! I suggested that the blame might be directed at me and the rep may not like that given it was an outright LIE! and he said fine but that I had to promise that I didn't mention they had used levers and lube! I just agreed to get my tire back...

So come 3 days later I get a call to say my tire is in, so I walk into the shop and as he gives me the new tire I ask if I can get some new sealant. he gives me a filthy look and says well you'll have to pay for that.. I am now at my whits end! Feeling as though I had been able to totally remain calm and good natured about the whole thing, never placing blame just going along, this was enough.

I said surely you can throw it in after all this (I had just spent over $200 on tires and sealant) and the little f-wit started going off at me, saying they had done me a huge favor by helping me install the tires and that when they couldn't help me had to kick me out of the shop as I wouldn't leave etc etc. to this I said, so you are taking absolutely no responsibility for any of this, I never said anything of the half day it took instead of riding to clean my car! never asked for anything else, to this he threw the sealant at me and yelling said just take it and never come back here again, your not ever welcome at this shop! he stormed off back to the workshop and that was that, I walked out, quite happy to never go back!!

Sorry for the long story but I thought it was a pretty bad tire explosion incident.

My worst experence was when a buddy and I were in the shop airing up his ZTR Race wheelset for an upcoming 24 hr race, he wasnt paying attention to the pressure that he was putting in his Specialized 1.8 Sauserwind S-Works with the air compressor. We were talking about the upcoming race and right as I asked what other teams were racing 5 man expert that year, and BOOM! We both actually went deaf for like 30 sec. I have never heard a louder noise in my life. After the explosion, we decided to see if there was damage to the tire, or more importantly, the $950 ZTR Race wheelset on his 2 week old team Sclapel. Both survived unschathed, and the tire mounted easily after that too, but our ears hurt for a bit after.

sp3000~ Sounds like you handled yourself quite well given your situation. Unbelievable that an employee of any customer service based company would treat a customer in such a manner. Hopefully he doesn't work there much longer so that he doesn't ruin it for anyone else.

I've been super busy with work (just about to deliver my my first feature film) and I've been trying to keep stress levels down by making sure little things don't bother me! I tried so hard to fight the urge to go off at him, he was just some punk kid at a shop!
When I got home I rang a mate and told him, we went through the options of ringing the manager and even calling the distributor that had to do the warranty replacement and let him know that the shop should be paying, but in the end I just thought that I had nothing really to gain, and why (even though I could kill him!!) should I give someone grief just for payback.
I must be maturing in my old age!! (nearly 30!)

riding in the rain is dumb. "well other people do it to" it's called you know it's wrong so don't do it .

Must we be so sanctimonious about this? All the trails in our area get ridden in the rain, except the ones that can't handle it, which are very few. They look as good today as they did 10 years ago, that includes the ones used by horses too. I suppose we should close all hiking trails to hiking when it rains too, all the folks in the woods have to sit tight till it strops and dries out? Use common sense, and proper trail construction, not blanket bans, that's just silliness. Besides a rainy night ride is more fun than just about anything else I can think of

I agree some trails can handle it well and others can't. IMO, if you and your bike are covered in 10 lbs. worth of thick sticky mud and you've left 12 inch ruts all over the trail then thats a pretty good indication that you shouldn't be riding it.

also, sorry to hear of such an awful shop experience - only those of us that have successfully done UST tires are allowed to do so unless it's our own bike - one of our guys forgot to seat without sealant first, and got a faceful right as he inflated. The rest of us are so far so good, and all of his explosion went on him, poor guy. What an awful shop though. For shame.